Thursday, February 4, 2010

Transparent Conversion Designed to Fend off ConservativeJ.D. HayworthChallenge

PHOENIX, AZ. February 3, 2010. Something aboutJohn McCainhas changed. Some would say he’s changed his mind. On taxes. On Eric Holder. On just about everything, invoking comparisons to another John’s famous flip flops,John Kerry. Others would say he’s transparently changed his tone to sound more like a Conservative in an election year. Either way, something has changed –especially when it comes to theU.S. Military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy that applies to gays and lesbians serving in uniform.

In October of 2006, while participating inMSNBC’s Hardball College Tour, Senator McCain said in response to a question about “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”: “I understand the opposition to it, and I've had these debates and discussions, butthe day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, senator, we ought to change the policy, then I think we ought to consider seriously changing itbecause those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to.” (Emphasis added)

In an interview given this past June toAna Marie Cox, McCain said this about the policy: “My opinion is shaped by the view of the leaders of the military.”

So when didSenator McCainchange his mind about having his mind changed by military leaders?

Yesterday,Secretary of Defense Robert Gatesand Admiral Robert Mullen,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified on Capitol Hill that they think the policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should come to an end.

And what response did Senator McCain give to these military leaders asking for a change?

“’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has been an imperfect, but effective policy. And at this moment when we’re asking more of our military than at any time in recent memorywe should not repeal this law.” (Emphasis added)

McCain even went so far as to accuse Secretary Gates of trying to change the policy single-handedly, saying: “I'm happy to say we still have a Congress of the United States that would have to pass a law to repeal ‘Don't Ask Don't Tell’, despite your efforts to repeal it, in many respects, by fiat.”

“Granted, Arizonans have not seen a lot of John McCain in the past decade but familiar or not I don’t thinkArizonaRepublicans are going to be fooled by an election year conversion only to risk Senator McCain poking us in the eye for another six years if elected,” Hayworth said.